


Bringing Him Home

by jalendavi_lady



Series: Night Vale: Recovering [1]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Gen, Injury Recovery, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 23:33:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1666544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jalendavi_lady/pseuds/jalendavi_lady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They took Cecil from him, and Carlos is determined to get him back and get him home.</p>
<p>Spoilers for Episodes 46 and 47.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bringing Him Home

Carlos had never been more glad that he had a tendency toward forward planning. Even if the unforeseen had made such a mess of it in the past.

What business did a miniature army have developing ballistic weapons, anyway?

There had been a Plan B for what would happen if he got trapped in the house.

The fact he was the one going inside had itself been part of it. None of the other scientists had been at any increased risk from any source.

And none of the other scientists had heard, reheard, discussed at length over dinner, and theorized at 3 in the morning about all of Intern Dana's reports about the house and the world you'd find if the door didn't lead you back into Night Vale.

And then, StrexCorp took Cecil.

Plan B became Plan A.

* * *

It took over a week of planning, while Carlos secretly lived in the neighbor's basement, but they got everything together.

Of course, there was the chance StrexCorp would see everything he entered with and take it out on the others, but they all agreed that if not even Cecil was safe…

If Cecil wasn't even safe, what hope did any of them have even if they didn't do anything?

Might as well help Carlos escape with the hiking backpack full of food. And the solar-powered all-terrain scooter. And the city maps, annotated with the best information they had about StrexCorp's movements.

And the closest thing they had to a guide for finding Dana.

* * *

It worked.

Carlos wasted no time in setting out. He took the first opening he got, saw he was in the right place, and started out across the plain.

Following the footprints that were all Dana's shoe size and fit the description of how she had traveled.

He found her, found them.

Together, they found the doorway.

The doorway that led into Hidden Gorge.

And it opened, and their army called out Dana's name in a loud clear chant, and it was all over but the bleeding.

_Their_ bleeding.

Cecil had been right. 

Those reclaimed bloodstone doors at the radio station had been good practice for StrexCorp.

* * *

When Cecil didn't turn up in the first few hours of searching every clump of people he ran into, Carlos went home.

To an empty house with stale and moldy food.

And a note from the faceless old woman about her feeding the cat for them.

And an affection-starved limping cat who refused to understand "Get off, I haven't had an antihistamine in weeks." 

(At least _those_ hadn't expired.)

And an electric wall clock that proclaimed the date in big numbers he could not ignore. Two years since he'd come to Night Vale. Just twelve months ago, almost to the minute, Cecil had walked over to his truck and sat with him in the Arby's parking lot…

It was too much. 

The goofy His & His shower caddy Janice had made them for a Girl Scout project right after they moved in together. Cecil's hair on his pillow in the bedroom. Cecil's hair on Carlos's pillow in the bedroom. The community radio coffee mug dutifully sitting in the drainer by the kitchen sink, washed and waiting.

He couldn't take trying to sleep in the bedroom.

Carlos took a quick shower, his first chance to bathe properly since that horrible day. He found enough pasta in the cabinets that he could make food for himself, and the blandness fit well with the discomfort in his stomach. He opened up the futon in the living room that had been his since college and tried to get some sleep.

At least he was used to waking up alone on the futon.

He woke in the morning to find a morning paper (that wasn't much more than a hastily printed list of the found, the confirmed dead, and the known missing with contact information for reporting needed changes before a new copy was run tomorrow and a list of community resources on back page), a box of donuts that were still warm, and a fresh bag of cat food on the doorstep.

* * *

It took a while to find everyone who had gone missing in the early days.

Janice was among the earliest finds, shortly after Hiram McDaniels paid a visit to StrexCorp corporate headquarters. Her mother made it back in town, having received word to stay away once the danger was apparent, just in time to get Janice home from the hospital.

The bed was needed for those worse off physically than she was.

Carlos began to wonder if Cecil was among the dead after all the obvious detention sites were cleared out.

He took to driving around town with a detector tuned to the sorts of electromagnetic interference StrexCorp technology tended to cause sitting in the passenger seat of the truck.

Nothing and more nothing. One or two false positives where they had cached weapons or crowd control supplies. No people.

No Cecil.

* * *

The phone call came as he was eating dinner on the fifth day, a simple message that he needed to come to the hospital now and plan to stay for at least a few hours.

He suspected it was about one of his colleagues. None of them, even those who hadn't been involved in his own escape, had gotten through unscathed. Either that, or they simply needed his scientific know-how for something or other.

So he finished his meal, got in the car, and set out at the posted speed limit, listening to the detector as he drove. He obeyed all traffic laws. He even waited calmly in line for a visitor pass.

Until the moment someone on staff commented that they didn't know how he could be so calm and explained what they meant by it.

* * *

Cecil was nearly unrecognizable until Carlos made it across the small room to his beside.

They had left his hands alone, something that was incredibly disconcerting. They also seemed to have been very careful not to do damage to his face beyond light bruising.

Every other visible part of him was a mess. And judging from the way the sheets were lumpy over him, likely the not visible parts of him as well.

And then Carlos saw and mentally processed the tubes and IV lines and…

He finally identified some of the lumpiness to be from a blanket made like an old spacesuit liner, full of water tubes for temperature regulation.

That was the worst thing of all, because he knew what any measure like its use usually meant: someone so damaged they could no longer handle their own thermoregulation.

It typically translated to being in critical condition, but this wasn't the ICU.

A nurse ran in behind him. "He's better than he looks," she told Carlos quietly. "At least physically. It's mostly bruising and lacerations. They didn't want to risk anyone they were trying hard to convert coming over to their side too damaged to be of use to them." She glanced away. "And part of it is because it took this long to find him… no one was there to bring him food and water. If it had taken another few days, even with shelter from the heat…" She trailed off.

"That blanket…"

"We're trying to keep him just cooled enough for the swelling to start going down faster than it would without intervention." She paused. "I know he filed the paperwork to make you his medical decision-maker if his sister was unavailable, but…"

"The person who called me didn't say it was him. Just told me to get here."

"I'm sorry, but we're trying to keep this quiet. The last thing he needs is a crowd."

Carlos looked down at Cecil and knew she was right.

"When will he wake up?"

"He already did." She laughed nervously. "Put two nurses in the ICU fighting the initial wound cleaning. He's sedated and mostly restrained."

Carlos was surprised, impressed, and horrified. Cecil wasn't all that strong of a man to begin with. If he was, they wouldn't have been able to take him.

"It's going to take a long time for him to recover." She gestured to a reclining chair in the corner. "The doctor won't be through again until he makes rounds in the morning, but you're welcome to stay with him. He's not so far under that he can't wake up."

Carlos nodded. "He shouldn't be left alone like this for long."

* * *

Carlos dozed for hours until the sound of a little groan brought him back to complete wakefulness.

"Cecil?"

There was a long silence. "Carlos…?" His voice was full of pain and disbelief.

"I'm here."

"Go. Run. Get away." Cecil's words were fast and breathless. "Don't let them find you…"

"They're gone," Carlos told him firmly. "Gone forever."

"But Lauren…" Cecil objected in a constricted tearful breath.

"Shh. Hiram _ate_ her. That's part of why it took so long for us to find you. Everyone knew they had you, no one knew where. But you're safe now, and that's what matters."

Utter confusion in Cecil's eyes.

"No one knew where they had you," Carlos told him as slowly and calmly as he could manage. "People disappeared completely. There were doubts we could ever find you."

The confusion didn't go away.

Carlos decided hearing that there were bodies so destroyed that it was taking an advanced forensics team days to get to the point where looking at dental records could be even slightly worthwhile was not something Cecil was remotely prepared for.

He sighed. "We have you. They're gone forever. That's what matters. And when you get out of here, I'm taking you home."

Carlos wasn't thinking when he reached towards Cecil's hand.

Cecil jerked away at the slightest touch, felt the restraints stop him, and promptly went limp.

Carlos felt very cold.

Janice had been absolutely huggy even when he'd visited her within hours of her rescue.

Cecil's reaction to being cleaned up hadn't been because of pain. They hadn't touched his hands - there was no injury there for Cecil to defend from further pain.

This was… this was bad.

"Cecil, I'm sorry. Janice was clingy when she got out. I didn't realize you would not want to be touched at all. You're only restrained because you managed to hurt the nurses who were cleaning you up after you were found."

Cecil blinked a few times. "Janice?"

"We found her quickly after they fell, Cecil. She's banged up, but she'll be okay. They didn't do all that much to the girls."

Carlos preferred not to think very much about the StrexCorp logic there.

"Hello?" a quiet voice asked from the doorway. "I just heard, and…"

"Dana?" Cecil tried to sit up, and would have failed from lack of strength alone. His voice was as weak as the rest of him.

She dashed over to the bed. "I didn't think you'd be awake. They told me…"

"It's not enough to force him to stay asleep," Carlos told her.

Cecil was looking very confused.

"Cecil, you put two nurses in the ICU trying to resist being cleaned up. They've got you on sedatives on top of those restraints."

There was a flash of clear offense in his eyes. Then, as if he was afraid to ask, "How are you here?"

Dana smiled. "It's a long story. I was so worried when you stopped answering. Oh, and I'm not a community radio intern anymore."

Cecil stared.

"I was right, about the being important eventually," she told him bashfully. "I just didn't know how soon."

"Dana…"

Carlos spoke up. "She led an army out of Hidden Gorge. On election day."

Cecil stared properly.

"So, once you've gotten better, you don't have to worry about securing mayoral interviews until the next election," she told him as cheerfully as she could manage.

That was when Cecil seemed to think through something. "The election already happened?"

Carlos knew what he was _really_ asking.

Dana apparently realized it too, because she took her leave as quickly as propriety would allow.

"Yeah, Cecil. Election day already happened. Same day we successfully got rid of those monsters."

"How long?"

"A few days. Don't worry about that. You're safe now."

The corner of his mouth turned up. "I had dinner reservations."

"I'll take a raincheck until you're fit to lift a spoon for yourself," Carlos told him lightly.

He tried not to think about how long he might be waiting. Cecil was pretty emaciated and it was clear to Carlos that for it to happen this fast, muscle wasting had to be involved. A few days without food and weeks on a minimum diet not meant to cause permanent damage wouldn't do this to him.

Which meant Cecil's road to recovery was going to be even longer than Carlos had already figured.

And right now, thankfully, Cecil was in no mental state to process that for himself.

Cecil was still looking at him.

Carlos sighed. He was going to have to broach the subject sooner or later. "Cecil, you aren't in any shape to make decisions for yourself. Your sister has enough to handle dealing with Janice right now. Do you still trust me?"

There was a long pause and an uneasy "yes". And then Cecil looked like he wanted to be sick.

Carlos sat down in a chair facing him, far closer than the reclining chair could be moved. "Cecil, I'd rather you were honest and hesitant than answer whatever you think I want to hear, okay?"

Cecil nodded slightly.

"I'm looking after you now, and if you getting better and being cared for properly means I get my feelings hurt, I'm fine with that."

He could see the gratitude on Cecil's face just before he passed right on back out.

Carlos rested his face in his hands and tried not to make a sound as he wept.

* * *

The next day saw Carlos sitting in a waiting room with Janice to permit some quiet sibling time alone.

"Did anyone tell you?" Janice asked awkwardly after they had exhausted the usual conversation topics.

"Tell me what?"

"That court case went through. The judge stayed it, but there was a ruling. You were gone when it happened."

He could already hear the rushing in his ears as he asked her which case, because he already knew which one it simply _had_ to be, and she answered with his assumption.

Carlos leaned forward with his head in his hands.

Janice put a hand on his back. "They told me. Somehow, they knew what I told you and tried to use it against me."

Carlos turned towards her and gathered her into a hug. "About how you aren't going to ever call me uncle unless it's legally true?"

"Yeah. They had Uncle Cecil, and they said you'd never be coming back, and…"

"And they figured out it wasn't a rejection of me, but the best push for us to stay together and get legal when the opportunity finally comes that a middle schooler could come up with?"

She ducked her head and blushed. "Um, anyway, Mom thinks we shouldn't mention it around Uncle Cecil until he gets better or mentions it himself. In case they used it against him the way they used it against me."

Carlos thought a moment and nodded. "He's in no fit state to consider the implications, anyway. And while there's a stay, it doesn't really change anything."

And he knew it was true. Cecil was too drugged right now to process much of anything.

Which reminded him. "Janice, I know you are a big fan of hugs right now, but you need to careful with your uncle. He's extremely touch-averse and I don't know how long that's going to last. And it's not limited to where they hurt him."

She looked at him with wide but incredibly wise eyes and nodded seriously.

Being one of a handful of people in town who had never been in StrexCorp custody was going take some getting used to.

They sat there a while longer, and then Carlos walked her back to Cecil's room so she could have time with him.

Then he left to go get an overnight bag from home and make sure the cat had enough food and water for a couple of days.

* * *

They had to drug Cecil to the point of complete insensibility before he could handle being in a moving vehicle.

He'd physically recovered enough to not need hospital levels of care. Carlos was handling most of his personal care because Cecil could tolerate him better anyway, and his sister had been handling the rest.

No reason to keep him away from the familiar safeness of home.

They got him inside, still unconscious, and the sound of over-enthusiastic cat filled the air.

Janice kept him from being underfoot while they laid Cecil down on the futon.

Carlos straightened up. "I think we'd better leave him out here. Plenty of windows and doors and open space, and it'll be easy to have visitors without needing to move him around."

Everyone else agreed. And quietly left.

* * *

Cecil spent the rest of the day sleeping the drugs off.

The cat didn't like it. He howled. He yowled. He pulled at Carlos's pant leg as if he thought Carlos clearly didn't realize something was horribly wrong with the world and needed to go do something to fix it right then. He sat beside Cecil's head and complained.

He followed Carlos to the bathroom and kept scratching at the door until he opened it again.

Which led to another yowl.

Carlos knelt on the floor next to him. "He's hurt, Khoshekh. And like we took care of you when you got hurt, we need to take care of Cecil now. And he may never be quite the same again, but he's going to get better. We just need to give him time. And he's sleeping off sedatives right now, so he's not going to be very responsive for a while."

The cat seemed to understand enough to satisfy him, at least enough that he padded back into the living room in front of Carlos, jumped up on the futon, and settled in next to Cecil's pillow.

* * *

Carlos had fallen asleep on the couch when he felt the tug at his sleeve.

"Wuh?"

The cat yowled, jumped back onto the futon, and began kneading the sheets, tail swishing in happy arcs.

A short while later, Cecil jerked slightly.

Khoshekh purred with a intensity that reminded Carlos of a badly tuned chainsaw.

"Khoshekh?" Cecil asked as if he really didn't believe the cat was there. "But they said…"

"You're home, on the futon in the living room," Carlos told him. "The faceless old woman appears to have been taking care of him, somewhat. And with the state the kitchen was in and the lack of rodents, I think someone was hunting in the house."

Cecil seemed overwhelmed. "I'm really home?"

"You're really home, and unless something medical happens you aren't leaving again until you want to." Carlos sat down on the ground beside them. "We're _all_ home."


End file.
